How many times, people have been lost in rituals without meaning? With ethics what you feel is irrelevant. With ritual what you feel is relevant. Ethics are an end in itself. Rituals are means.

Well, how do you guard ethical instructions? Most of the time, we need a few layers of safeguarding; each layer shielding another layer. Thousands of years ago, it was easy for communities to believe that holiness guarded ethics. They assumed that holiness and goodness are fragile. Every layer protects another layer.

Alas, beliefs always change.

Nowadays, people turn to the broken windows theory of James Q. Wilson. Others call it a fallacy and not a theory.
However, let’s accept the argument for a few minutes. If a community allows smashed windows to stay unrepaired, then it will enable crimes to continue. Profanity is a broken window as well, and once used, it gets worse. There’s nothing unethical about using profanity.